7.15.2011

Suffering from a case of blogger blues and computer snafus, I'm a little bummed that there has been such an extended break in the blogging action. There's never a shortage of interesting things happening in the daily life at WCS. It's just a matter of finding the balance of living the dream and taking time to document and share the aloha.

So I've recharged and rebooted the stoke and plan to bring you all up to speed with some of the cool events and happenings in the whirlwind of the past few months. And I'm not complaining, nor should anyone who gets to go surfing with friends and family.

4.28.2011

3.22.2011

Wow! What a weekend. What a final day. The shape off was crazy, intense and a whole lot of fun. I felt like Man on Wire most of the time in that shaping room.

And I was really happy with the finished shape.

I want to thank all of you - my friends, customers and fellow surf riders - for your support and your ongoing desire to ride a custom surfboard. Without your feedback, input and individual tastes I would still be trying to rub two sticks together.

Needless to say I'm a bit over the moon with the outcome. To be able to thank and rub elbows with the masters whose dusty footsteps I've been following all these years is an honor indeed.

3.17.2011

It's been a log jam at Handcrafted for the last couple of weeks. The boys have been working overtime to get everyone's boards done for the Sacred Craft show this weekend. Here Fletch tries to figure out where to put my 10'6" Streamline, while a classic noserider of mine waits it's turn.

A freshly trimmed volan glass job, with matching tail block, are what make the classics, well, classic.

All dressed out and ready to glass, this is one of my Freeride models in a thruster fin setup.

The yellow Streamline is a board I'm really excited about. The lines and contours on the board are stunning and thought provoking; it has been very enlightening building this board. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

3.05.2011

Nick holds up his first place trophy "The Yellow Shoe" for his victory in a wacky and fun event that only the minds of frothing kids could come up with.

This one comes from the archives, a classic study of when teen spirit meets the exuberance of youth. The story goes like this: Cole and his buddies were holed up for a couple of stormy weeks watching Thicker Than Water over and over, just dying to get some good surf. The part with cool pro guys trading off riding a funky little green single fin struck a cord and the lightbulb went off. "We could do that." "Let's make a contest out of it." "Yeah." And off they went to enlist their gullible shaper (me).

What we came up with was this little 5'10": diamond tail, single fin, yellow pigment, gloss and polish and most importantly no leash attachment. Purely a soul thing.

The object was to surf the board for 20 minutes and get judged by your bros. At the end of the the day everyone got to vote, looked at scores if they had to, and generally agreed who should take home the prestigious Yellow Shoe. Pretty simple, tons of fun, heavy gaffs, and a bit of swimming.

Nick cranks it off the bottom.

Cole opens up with a big flair off the top making this "old school" single fin look as lively and loose as his trusty thruster.

In the end it was Nick's backhand attack with blazing cutbacks and snapping rebounds that won the day.

This scramble happened years ago and these kids are now adults. They're fireman, lifeguards, scientists; and are starting families of their own. It is my hope that they are passing the stoke along and continue to find good reasons to spend the day at the beach.

2.23.2011

Jim got 2 new boards this week and wanted his patented red bottom and rails, along with some kind of green on the deck. I thought that they might end up a little too Christmasy so I threw in a fade and a purple band on one. The round tail is a 6'1" quad for punchy Ocean Beach style beach breaks. The squash tail is a 5'11" dumpster diver inspired design for the mushy stuff.